Method of making welding rods



March 23, 1937. E, E, m s 2,074,712

METHOD OF MAKING WELDING RODS Filed Feb. 19, 1935 i F 4-. r e wqammee! 7' a @0 I Q t J 8. QIQ J a g 1 a a e a WITNESSES INV ENT OR.

if; ATTORNEYJ.

Patented Mar. 23, 1937 METHOD OF MAKING WELDING RODS Ernest E. Tross, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor to United Engineering & Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 19, 1935, Serial No. 7,194

7 Claims. (01. 29- -1604) This invention relates to an improved method which is usually referred to as the segregation of making welding rods and articles of that portion and is made up of metal containing varycharacter in which uniformity in composition and ing percentages of impurities and varying perpurity of the metal going to make up the articles centages of the various other elements found in are desired.

the steel. Beyond this latter portion there is In the art of metal welding in which the parts formed what is termed the rim portion of the being welded are joined together by the fusing ingot. This portion comprises in the neighbortherewith of welding rods, it is well known-that hood of 35 to 45 per cent of the volume of the the majority of Weld failures and the formation ingot and is made up of a steel which is low in 10 of imperfect and unsatisfactory welds are due to carbon, substantially free from impurities, and ,the impurities in and the non-uniformity of the very uniform in composition. While in the past metal comprising the welding rods. These imthe entire ingots have been employed in the makperfections, as is also well known by those skilled ing of welding rods, it is the purpose of this inin the art, are present in the welding rods as a vention to make such rods only out of this lastresult of theway they are made. For the most mentioned rim portion of the ingots and thereby part such rods are, made fromsteel ingots which obtain the qualities and characteristics in the are rolled intheir entirety and drawn or otherrods which are required for the making of perfect wise reduced to rods of the size desired for weldwelds.

ing and then cut into the lengths required. When By way of explaining the invention, reference so made the-resulting rods embody the non-uniwill be had to the accompanying drawing of which formity in structure of the ingots as well as con- .Fig. l is a vertical section taken through an ingot tain the impurities which are present in the metal of the type employed in the making of welding going to make up the ingots, and while it is known rods, and which is shaded to designate the variathat their faults can be overcome by making them tions in the composition of its structure, the of pure uniform steel, there has been heretofore heavier shading representing the greater percentno satisfactory method for accomplishing this end age of impurities and non-uniformities in metal; by means of which they could be produced below 'Fig. 2 a horizontal section taken on the line II--II a prohibitive or uncompetitive cost.

of Fig. 1; Figs. 3, 4 and 5 sectional views showing With these thoughts in mind it is an object of it at different stages during its reduction to strip and economical to practice.

ingots.

this invention to provide an improved method of or plate; Fig. 6 a sectional view of one of the edges .making welding rods or articles of that nature of the strip or plate comprisingthe rim portion having the aforementioned characteristics as to of the ingot after it has been removed from the purity and uniformity and which is both feasible strip or plate and passed through a set of forming rolls of a wire-making machine; Fig. 7 a sectional A more specific object is to provide for making view of the strands produced from the section articles of this character out-of the rim portion shown in Fig. 6 after it has been passed through of steel ingots and in such a way as to commerthe slitting elements of the wire-making machine; cially make use of the remaining portions of the and Fig. 8 the same strands after they have been y reduced to rounds.

0 Steel ingots of the type used for this purpose In accordance with the invention an ingot l as is well known are formed by pouring the steel is poured in the conventional manner, and as in a molten condition into ingot molds and perpreviously set forth comprises a central or pipe mitting it to solidify. During the solidification section 2 containing the highest percentage of of the metal as is also common knowledge unless impurities, an intermediate section 3 which is 5 means is employed to prevent such action the referred to as the segregation and contains varyimpurities contained in the molten mass gravitate ing percentages of toward the center of the ingot. As a result an amounts of the different elements found in the ingot is provided which comprises a central sec steel, and lastly an outer section 4 which is comtion commonly referred to as the pipe portion monly referred to as the rim portion and made impurities and varying 50 in which the greatest amount of impurities is up of pure low carbon steel that is highly unifound and in which the carbon content is the form in composition and ideally suited for the highest. In volum'e such section constitutes making of welding rods or articles in which steel usually from 2 to 6 per cent of the ingot. Surhaving such characteristics is required. rounding it a portion comprising in the neighbor- After being processed for rolling in a well- 55 hood of to 55 per cent of the ingot is-formed known manner the ingot l is passed through the working passes of a rolling mill a sufilcient number of times to reduce it as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 to a strip or plate, preferably approximating the thickness of the gauge of rods which it is desired to make from it, although it may be reduced to a somewhat greater thickness as will presently appear. By rolling the ingot in this way its rim section is greatly expanded at the two edges la of the-resultant strip, see Fig. 5, which makes it possible for these edges to be readily removed by a slitting operation and made use of for making welding rods by a further slitting operation, while leaving the remainder of the strip in a perfectly satisfactory condition to use for other purposes for which it is suitable. To make these strips 4a into welding 'rods they are preferably passed after they are removed from'the strip through a suitable wire-making machine of the type disclosed in United States Patent No. 1,136,373 which creases the strips and slits them into strands. These strands are then either rolled or drawn in a well-known manher through suit-able rolls or wire-drawing dies to make them of the correct rod gauge and provide them with a perfectly round contour or whatever contour is desired. It will also be appreciated of course that the whole ingot can be so processed if desired and the resultant rods separated for their different uses, and also that if the strip is not reduced to rod gauge the slitted strands can be readily drawn to any sizedesired by the conventional wire-drawing process.

In accordance with such method as is apparent rods are produced which are formed of rim steel embodying the desired welding rod characteristics and in a very economical manner, inasmuch as the remaining portion of the strip formed from the ingot is at the same time and without additional cost processed for commercial disposal in either wire, strip or plate form.

Furthermore by such method the rods can be produced at a cost which is lower than the cost of making such articles as they have been customarily made in the past, that is, by the conventional wire-drawing process.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and mode of construction of my invention, and have illustrated and described what I now consider to be its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. The method of making articles out of rim steel which comprises rolling a steel ingot lengthwise into a relatively thin flat strip or platelike blank, slitting from the side edges of said blank the portions thereof which comprise rim steel only and forming the portion slit from said edges into the articles desired.

' 2. The method of making rods formed of rim steel which comprises rolling a steel ingot lengthwise into a flat strip or platelike blank, slittin the rim steel portion of the ingot from the side edges of said blank, slitting said edge portions into strands and reducing said strands to rounds of the desired diameter.

3. The method of making rods formed of rim steel which comprises rolling a steel ingot lengthwise into a fiat strip or platelike blank, slitting the rim steel portions from the edges of said blank, creasing said edge portions lengthwise to facilitate slitting, slitting them after they are creased to produce strands and then processing the strands to produce rounds of a desired gauge.

4. The method of making welding rods which comprises rolling a steel ingot lengthwise into a fiat strip or platelike blank, slitting the rim steel portions from the side edges of said blank, slitting said rim steel edges into strands, reducing said strands to rounds of a desired gauge, and

' then cutting them into desired lengths.

5. The method of making welding rods or the like which comprises rolling a steel ingot lengthwise into a flat strip or platelike blank, slitting the rim steel portion at the side edges of said blank into strands, reducing said strands to rods of desired gauge without damaging the central portion of the strip or plate for use for other purposes.

6. The method of producing rim steel which comprises casting a steel ingot with a rim portion substantially free of impurities and low in carbon, rolling the ingot lengthwise into a relatively' thin fiat strip or plate-like blank, and then slitting only the rim steel from the side edges of said blank.

7. The method of producing strands of rim steel which comprises casting a steel ingot with a rim portion substantially free of impurities and low in carbon, rolling the ingot lengthwise into a relatively thin flat strip or plate-like blank, and then slitting the rim steel portions at the side edges of said blank into strands.

ERNEST E. 'I'ROSS. 

